Back to School

Well our summer flew by, but was nothing like the one I had envisioned prior to school letting out.  Instead of playdates and weekly home study themes, the kids had to fend for themselves and take on a little more responsibility with my being sick.  

Hudson's mind and body grew and he spent his time riding his bike, swimming, reading, and dreaming up a rock business (which sadly never came into being.)  He was very considerate of me and often entertained the girls so I could get some extra rest or throw up in private.  He helped out with making dinner, turning on/off sprinklers, and taking care of the chickens and horses.

Dalanie learned to operate the microwave and was beaming the first time she heated up corn dogs for lunch (it only took 45 trips up and down the stairs for further instruction from me.)  She would make her bed and often make Ruby's too.  On occasion she attempted to fix their hair, although most of the time they were trying to push and shove the hair out of their faces.  She loved to fetch me drinks and ask how I was feeling.

Every storm cloud has it's silver lining.  We grew closer as a family and our love multiplied as we faced challenges.  As hard as a few months were, I don't think we'd change it for anything.  All in all, we had a good summer and were still able to have quite a bit of fun.

I did most of the back to school shopping online because the thought of dragging kids in and out of stores exhausted me.  We did run up to town after some school supplies and I found some school shoes for Hudson on clearance.  He was quite excited about his 13 buck shoes since he was footing the bill.  When school rolled around we were all ready.

Our big 2nd grader.  I kept asking how 1st grade was because really, can he already be in 2nd grade?

Waiting for the bus like an old pro.

Dalanie's classes started a week later.  She happened to scratch her face up pretty good the Saturday before starting.

She was a bit apprehensive, but had a good brother to coach her and taker her by the hand.

Once home from her first day she said, "I was nervous today, but I don't think I'll have to be nervous again."  Her lunch scarcely was touched because she was so busy recounting the entire day.  I am excited to see her gain confidence and come out of her shell a bit.

Swing Set

Over a year ago, plan were set in motion for a swing set for our children  posterity.  You may remember me talking about it here.  Well we did get three swings on it last summer, but it sat unpainted for the majority of a year.  Finally Brent decided it was time for the next installment so he hired the neighbor kids to wire brush it all and then he primed and painted it.

 It's funny how much of a difference paint made.  Hudson thinks its the nicest color of paint Brent could choose.  He was very impressed with the color, or at least it gave him something to talk about.  And since we got that far, movie night was the perfect motivation to put on some tin roofing and lumber decking.  It was a crazy day, that deadline day.  Hot, hot, hot.

But it made it's debut and all the kids seemed to enjoy.

Since then, many evenings have been spent climbing the walls or ladders and giving underdogs on the swings.

 The kids are anticipating next years installment.  We'll see about that.

Lake Powell

Most of the preparation for Lake Powell is just food since you only need sheets to sleep with and swimsuits to wear.  Dalanie loved to help me bake cookies and make goodies to take along.  It was a crazy weekend with the ward campout and Little Buckaroo, but we managed to get things ready in time to load up before church on Sunday.  We hustled to get gone by 3:00.  Add in potty breaks, stopping for fuel, a stop to pickup some jet skis, and helping out some stranded travelers and it put us in to Bullfrog at nearly 1:30.

The hassle is all in the getting there.  Once you're there, it's non-stop fun and entertainment.  The kids couldn't wait to get into the water, so they were going off the water slide at 8:30 in the morning.  After some house boat repairs, we were out of the marina and on our way north.  We landed a parking spot in Cedar Canyon.  There was a little beach and lots of rocks for climbing.

The younger kids spent most of their time hanging out at the beach. There was no shortage of swimming, rock painting, lizard chasing, seashell collecting, digging, paddling on the paddle board, hiking, and splashing in the water.

Dalanie was hell bent on collecting an entire bucket of shells.  She accepted anyone's help, but mainly pestered Tristan relentlessly until the bucket was full.

The kids loved fishing off the side of the boat.  I think all that tried caught a fish.  It generally took place during dinner time for some odd reason.

They mostly caught catfish and a few suckers.  The dads got the honor of releasing them.  Trouble is, the catfish swallow the hook so deep that they were always trying to wrangle it back out of the stomach.

One night Dalanie threw out her line.  Shortly after, Hailey informed her that she had a fish on and quickly took over reeling it in.  And although she didn't want to be anywhere near the fish, she was so excited to inform everyone about the fish she caught.

Let's be honest.  The only was to survive at Lake Powell when it's 100+ is to live in the water.

There was kneeboarding and EZ skiing behind the jet ski.  It was during this same time that Jamie and Brent discovered that jet skiing double was the way to go on these machines.  They spent an entire afternoon crashing and laughing and entertaining us at the boat.

There was sliding and diving and diving off the slide.  Hudson participated in the crazy slide event, but only ended up with a ginormous goose egg after going down his second time standing up.

Everyone loaded into the ski boat one day for an outing.  I wore my trusty hat and tried to stay out of the sun best as I could since some of the medication I was on made me especially sensitive.

NiCole was even nice enough to retrieve it the one time I was careless and let it blow off.

We packed a lunch and found a cool picnic site up Forgotten Canyon on our way up to some ruins.

We made the hot little hike up to Defiance House.

We all took turns going in the houses.  It was amazing how cool and comfortable they were on such a hot day.  No doubt those Ancenstral Puebloans knew what they were doing.

Once back to the water, we all hung out for awhile to cool down.

Dalanie even got a turn helping Uncle Tracy drive the boat that day.

We went back to the marina for some overpriced gas and ice-cream, but some prices you are willing to pay.

And as is tradition, Hudson had to feed some to the "smoker fish"  in order to watch them "smoke."

Brothers spent the chance with service to take reconnect and take care of business back home.

Karianne had just gotten to the USA from Norway a few days before she accompanied the other Hillman family to LP as their exchange student.  She was kind enough to entertain any questions we had.  She experienced a lot of firsts that trip.

Some spent more time behind the boat than others.  (Sniff.  This is where I feel sorry for myself, although I attempted to wake board once but my nerves got the best of me.  It was torture to be in the boat with perfect water, so I generally stayed behind with the kids.)

There was surfing, wake boarding, skiing, and even this crazy thing call "air chairing."  Brent was able to hone his skills and become quite good at it.

While people were switching boards or skis, everyone would bail overboard for some relief from the heat.  Hudson was usually the first person in.

And of course, everyone loved the tubing.

We were happy to have Hansens' accompany us.

About the only time people spent indoors was when we were moving the houseboat.  But when we were, you could count on the girls doing something crafty.

Life at LP looks like this:  Popsicles for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Alfresco dining every night.

Sleeping out in the 80 degree nights.  It was effort to get cool enough.  Baggies of ice littered the deck.  And you might as well leave sleeping bags at home.

I just so happened to celebrate my birthday during the trip.  NiCole made me a cake out of muffins.

And Brent took me out to dinner at a restaurant near the marina.

A storm blew in just as we were headed back to the slip to park.  There was crazy wind, so we puttered around until things calmed down enough that Tracy could get one of his boat buddies from Tiacaboo to come and drive us in.  (of course he charged a nominal fee like any tourist place.)

The kids loved helping transport our things from the houseboat to our vehicles with these awesome "hand carts."

Saying goodbye to another wonderful time at the lake.

And for some reason, the drive home always seems longer than the one there.  Of course there are stops for fuel.

But a whole lot of more stops like these.